Let me tell you a story about how (with no idea at the time of what it was called), I was forest bathing before forest bathing was cool.

At the small college I went to in — well, a long time ago — I was fortunate to enjoy fascinating classes, inspiring professors, and the best of friends. And, like a lot of college students, I was often sleep-deprived, stressed, and overwhelmed.

But I was also deeply in love with the place itself, a small campus set among thousands of acres of forest. Even now, decades later, those woods still feel like home whenever I visit.

During the four years I lived in that leafy wonderland, two of the things that could always get me out of my head and help lighten my mood were solitary walks in nature, and photography. Both separately and together, these became my personal form of meditation.

When I took the time to focus on the way light filters through leaves and fog; or on the interplay of sunlight and shadows on hundred-year-old architectural details; or, at night, on the sounds of insects and frogs, and the sight of thousands of fireflies in the trees and stars in the sky — these things had an amazing capacity to clear and calm my mind.

As John Burroughs, a late-19th-century literary naturalist, once wrote: “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, to have my senses put in order.”

And, of course, it’s not just me and John Burroughs who know this to be true.

“To stay focused, we need to give our minds a rest periodically even during a workday. It turns out that natural environments — and even [images] of nature — provide a unique kind of rest. They allow you to relax your attention but also keep other parts of your mind engaged, in beneficial ways.” (Psychology Today)

So when you need a brief moment of peace, one way to find it is to go outside and find whatever nature you can, whether that’s an actual forest, a park, your own backyard, a flower bed, or a single tree.

You’ve no doubt heard of forest bathing.

But you know what?

You don’t need a formal class or a guide or even an actual forest to find your forest-bathing bliss.

The entire concept of forest bathing boils down to this: No matter the size of your “forest” (park, backyard, flower bed, tree), be mindful of your surroundings.

Breathe.

Pay attention.

Notice how the sunlight filters through greenery; how the breeze caresses your face; how the “silence” of nature is actually filled with chirping bugs, rustling leaves, singing birds.

Focus on these things, instead of your own chatty brain or any non-nature sounds (traffic or leaf-blowers or air-conditioners), and you’ll enjoy a quick mental “vacation” that can improve your mood, restore your focus, lower your stress, and help you relax.

One amazing aspect of this sort of nature magic is that it works when you’re actually in the natural scene you’re observing, or when you’re looking at a photograph of it, or even when you’re reading about a garden or forest and visualizing the scene in your mind’s eye.

So go on: visualize a garden.